


Just Light

by LycanCoffee



Category: Harvest Moon: Animal Parade
Genre: Babies, F/F, I have no idea what to tag, listen im just saying nobody would believe the rancher if she was like i married a god lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 22:27:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15253413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LycanCoffee/pseuds/LycanCoffee
Summary: Something is up with Molly, and the whole town notices. It only gets stranger from there.And hey, Molly isn't crazy. She's just in love, but it's not like anyone would believe her. In hindsight, this might've been a bad idea.





	Just Light

**Author's Note:**

> hhhhhhhhhh first fanfic posted??? yeah  
> im.. worried but im always worried so nothing is new. Anyway i had a crush on the harvest goddess when i was little and this was what came of it pls enjoy.  
> It feels a bit messy but nothing written ever feels polished y'know? I have more chapters ill post them in a hot second. If you have any criticism at all ill take it! hit me w/ ur best shot

He had known the rancher for a while, and sure, she was a little strange, but… hm.  
She had noticed the small leak in his roof when she had come by to say hello, and was patching it up as a favor. He had argued against it but she waved him off and told him she was worried his “sickly, frail arms,” might get injured if he did it on his own. Chase didn’t like her that much, but she had a point. She certainly knew more about roof-fixing than he did, and the hole was letting in the cold fall air. But, while he has been holding onto the ladder for her and watching her work, he noticed a new ring on her dominant hand. He’d never seen her wear jewelry before, and the ring looked an awful lot like a traditional wedding ring… from far away, of course.  
Chase squinted at the hand she was using to steady the nail.  
“Hey,” he said.  
“Mff?” she mumbled through a mouthful of nails. (How unsanitary.)  
“Where’d you get that ring?,”  
Molly’s face went red and she suddenly lost her balance on the ladder. He made a sort of loud, gargled screech as he tried to keep the ladder upright (in vain), and it crashed down on top of him and Molly. He cursed, probably louder than he should of, as he struggled with it. Molly, who probably should have been worse off health-wise judging by the sound of that crash, pushed it off them with relative ease and sat up.  
“That was a colossal failure,” He groaned.  
“Only kind of. I just have a few more nails to put in, but I should be fine as long as I stay on the ladd-OW.” She flinched and rubbed her shoulder. “Ouch, that just got to me. That’s going to bruise.”  
“That still leaves the question I was asking you.”  
“What- oh,” she went quiet.  
“Are you going to answer or not? What’s such a big deal that you had to topple the ladder?”  
He was getting impatient, and just a few seconds away from a bitter rant.  
She sighed and rubbed her less injured arm. “It’s, uh.”  
He scowled.  
“UH.”  
“An impulse buy? A gift?” he narrowed his eyes. “A wedding ring?”  
“May...be?”  
“Are you serious?” His eyes widened. “How did I not know about this? There are like, barely fifty people in this whole town!” He threw up his arms and she flinched. She looked like she was making a valiant effort of crumpling inward like a sheet of paper. He bulldozed forward, unaware. Bitter rant, activate. “Who!? Engaged or married? Were you hiding all this? Why would you hide that?”  
“Uhh…”  
He crossed his arms and scowled.  
“Were you seriously trying to elope or something? Why-”  
“I am going to leave now,” she said. She hopped up and sprinted out the door like a rabbit in a fox’s den making their big escape.  
Well.  
Now he was left without answers and feeling weirdly… empty.  
Out of the loop.  
Whatever. He didn’t push too hard, she was just being an idiot. They weren’t friends anyway.

 

\------

 

“I’m thinking, something’s up with Molly,” Kathy announced to the rest of the table. “Three jacks,” she added.  
“Whadya mean?” Maya asked, briefly lifting her face from her cards.  
“You’re bleeding,” Anissa said with a nudge. Maya yelped and jumped up in her seat. She hurriedly pushed her cards up against her chest. “Better,” Anissa admitted. “Two queens.”  
“I mean, I haven’t seen her in town nearly as much, and when I do see her, she’s always looking all happy and wistful.”  
“Maybe she’s just busy,” Anissa said.  
“Maybe she’s in love!” Maya giggled. Kathy squinted at her.  
“Are you drunk?” She asked.  
Maya smiled at her. “I have neve onve been drunm.”  
“Bleeding,” Anissa said, nudging her again. Maya tightened her grip. “And, well, she might have a point.” Anissa looked around guiltily as she said it.  
“Oh wow, who do you think she could be in love with?” Renee asked.  
“Well.” Luna set her hand face down on the table and leaned forward. “You didn’t hear it from me, but… She came by Sonata’ a couple weeks ago, and she ordered this big, fancy white dress and some ornate hair pins. She picked it up a week ago.”  
Everyone at the table gasped.  
“A wedding dress?” Anissa whispered.  
“Almost certainly. She was really nervous about it too, I could tell, but, well, I don’t turn down big orders like that, and I don’t scare off customers with too many questions, y’know. Bad for business.”  
“That begs the question, then, just like Renee said. Who could it be?” Kathy leaned back in her chair. Her question left them pondering in silence.  
“Owen?” Renee suggested.  
“Turned him down last winter. I saw. It was pitiful,” Luna shook her head.  
“Toby?” Anissa said.  
“Hmm, maybe, but he still calls her “the new rancher” like she hasn’t been here two years.” Kathy said.  
“What about…” Luna gestured toward Chase with her thumb, who was washing glasses behind the bar. The Brass Bar was empty save them, but he stayed behind to wash to the dishes. Kathy’s personal theory was that he liked the gossip whenever they met to play cards, but nevermind that. He’d never admit it anyway.  
“Hmm…” Kathy muttered. Slowly, they all turned to face him, searching his form over their shoulders, like a bunch of birds of prey. The quiet was nearly deafening.  
Chase tried to glance sneakily over his shoulder and met their eyes. He almost dropped the glass when he saw them. Kathy stifled her smile.  
“Hey Chase!” she shouted over her shoulder.  
“What.” He said it flatly, but his eyes betrayed how intimidated he was.  
“Come over here!”  
He grumbled the whole time, but still, he set the glass down next to the sink and walked over to the girls. “Do you need me for something? I’m not going to do it, most likely.”  
“We just wanna know what your opinion on molly is,” she said, smile stretching deviously, eyes half-lidded. Anissa and Renee were smiling almost apologetically, but they couldn’t hide their curiosity.  
“I don’t like her much more than I like most of this town,” he said.  
“Oh, what endearing affection!” Luna fake swooned onto the table.  
“Whatever. What do you want to know for, anyway?” He asked. His eyebrows knit together with frustration.  
“C’mon chase, I know you were listening. It’s hard not to when we’re the only ones here,” Kathy teased.  
“Who do you think she’s eloped with, Chase?” Maya said the word eloped with sparkling eyes, like the word was too romantic to possibly express.  
“‘Eloped’ is a pretty big reach,” Chase muttered. Kathy could see realization flickering in his eyes.  
“But..”  
The girls straightened their backs and watched him raptly.  
“Not my business,” he said. He shrugged and let his hand towel drop to the table. He smirked when the girls let out a collective sigh of frustration.  
“Oh, c’mon, I bet you saw something,” Kathy said. She leaned onto one hand and squinted at him. He was likely itching to share, she could see it in his eyes. “Tell us,” she prodded.  
He raised an eyebrow.  
“What if it hurts Molly? I don’t care much but that’s just selfish,” he said.  
Ouch. He was right, but…  
No, there wasn’t a but.  
She let out a long sigh, and flipped around in her chair.  
“Alright, let’s get back to it. Who’s turn was it?” Kathy asked.  
“Maya’s,” Anissa said.  
Chase hesitated at the edge of the table, face grim but his hands were knotting up the washcloth. Just as he lifted one foot to go, he sighed and threw his washcloth down again. Exactly what she thought would happen.  
“Deal me in,” he said, pulling a chair up in one quick motion.  
They cheered in his honor, but Maya was too focused to notice. “Four kings,” she said, and added the cards to the stack.  
“BS,” Anissa said.  
Maya scooped all the cards up into her hand dejectedly.  
“No way that’s fair,” she said.

\---  
It was honestly miraculous that nobody had spread the possibility of Molly’s elopement around the town by Summer. But, y’know, the baby was a little more obvious than that. Harmonica Town was such a sweet place, of course, that no one was mean-spirited, and they all worked together to make sure that their more, ah, oblivious residents didn’t provoke her, but gossip was a constant, of course. There was whispers everywhere, and Renee had implied possible damage to his skull with her foot if he tuned in, so Luke didn’t. That didn’t mean he couldn’t ask, right? He didn’t have an opportunity to do so until Molly came ‘round to discuss home renovations. That was when he first saw the baby. He’d looked up from the wood he was cutting and seen it. He had seen babies before, obviously, but he’d forgotten that they were so… small. She was holding it in a sling over her shoulder. He was enraptured, trying to pick out the baby’s facial features from a distance. He didn’t realize that Molly had seen him until she was right next to him.   
“Wanna hold her?” She asked.  
Her.  
“I’ll break her!” He said, dropping the saw and worrying his hands. Molly laughed. “She’s tougher than that. It’s easy, see. Put your hand like this…” she used her free hand to manipulate his arms. She pulled the baby from the sling and placed it in his arms. She helped him support her for a moment, helping him adjust, telling him what to do, then let go.   
Luke couldn’t breathe from fear of hurting her. Her hair was so wispy. Her skin was so pale and soft.  
“Dude, are you crying?” Molly asked.  
“No! I’m just… uh, sweating from my eyes,” Luke said. He was maybe tearing up, but she didn’t need to know that.  
“You should get that checked out,” she teased.  
A few moments of silence passed as they watched the baby.   
“Oh, can I ask you something?” Luke asked. He had almost forgotten what he was going to ask her when he saw the baby.   
Molly quirked an eyebrow. “Sure.”  
“Where did she come from?”   
Molly’s face went blank. “Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....”  
A moment too late he realized the possible implications of what he had said. “No, no, I mean, you didn’t even have a boyfriend before now but now…” He shrugged one shoulder to indicate the baby.  
“Oh…” She looked strangely sad. “You won’t believe me,” she said.  
He gaped, then shook his head urgently. “I’ll believe you, I swear!” he assured her. He grinned as big as he could and nodded his head. “See?”  
“Really? You’ll think I’m crazy,” Molly said, but she was smiling to match him.  
“I won’t! C’mon, tell me!”  
“Ok, ok!” Molly said, holding her hands up to placate him. “Let’s go outside first,” she said, glancing toward Bo, who was intently focused on a box of nails he was sorting.  
Luke raised his eyebrows. “What, you don’t want Bo to hear? But he’s not paying attention!” Bo jumped when he heard his name and sheepishly looked over his shoulder before going back to his nails.  
“Just trust me,” she said.   
Luke sighed dramatically but followed her out the door. When they were outside, she kept going. She went down a small path Luke wasn’t sure had been there before, and they went into a thicker part of the forest.  
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” He whispered. “It’s sc- I mean, the baby might get scared,” he said.  
“Yes, and why are you whispering?” she whispered.  
“Why are you whispering?”  
“Why are you whispering?”  
“Why are- woah,” he was cut short when they emerged out into a clearing with a spring and this huge, beautiful tree at the end. She crossed over a bridge that seemed to rise out the water and become clear as she walked on it. He followed her shortly, but he measured his steps a lot more cautiously. “Cautiously” and “Luke” were not usually put together, like, ever, but he was terrified for the baby.  
Molly was waiting in front of the tree, facing him. She suddenly froze, and turned to look at the tree, like she had heard something. As Luke came up behind her, he heard her laugh quietly, and saw her lift her hand up to the tree, palm facing upward. For a moment, he had no idea what she was doing. And then, he saw light. Light, just light, met her fingertips, and she pulled the light to her cheek. He heard bells, a thousand tiny bells, and windchimes, rhythmic and beautiful. Like if an instrument could laugh, or a brook sing.  
The baby in his arms giggled, and he clutched her worriedly.  
Molly whipped around, as though she was just remembering, and smiled lopsidedly.  
“Let’s sit on the grass,” she said. Luke nodded.


End file.
